Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Make Me Stay
SERIES: Safe Harbor (Book 2)
AUTHOR: Annabeth Albert
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 281 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 13, 2023
BLURB:
Roommate Not Wanted
I’m a forty-year-old homeowner and former detective. My friends think a roommate is the solution to my recent funk, but I know that’s the last thing I need.
And even if they’re right, sharing my home with Cal is a bad idea. The prickly SEAL rescue diver has muscles for miles, haunted eyes, a wounded soul, and wandering feet that won’t be happy for long in Safe Harbor. Yet those fathoms-deep blue eyes have me making an offer I’ll surely regret.
Our arrangement may be doomed, but Cal is an amazing roommate. We’re soon cooking my mom’s favorite recipes, watching terrible TV, accidentally cuddling, and trying not to cross the line from friendship to fling.
Until I discover Cal’s sexy secret.
Boundaries blur, and I forget I’m not supposed to fall for Cal. Every kiss, touch, and discovery we make together pulls us deeper until there’s no denying our feelings.
I want nothing more than to keep Cal in town, in my bed, and in my heart, but Cal seems destined to swim back to his solo ways.
Can I bear to let him go, or will our love make him stay forever?
MAKE ME STAY is a hurt/comfort roommates-to-lovers MM romance. It features two mature, wounded heroes, disability rep, a proud pansexual, a SEAL having a demisexual awakening, and sexy discoveries involving rope. Deep feels, dual point-of-view, and big fluffy HEA guaranteed.
MAKE ME STAY is book two in the Safe Harbor series from acclaimed author Annabeth Albert. This small historic Oregon town has a tight friend group, memorable secondary characters, quirky businesses, and long-held secrets. Each book stands alone with a fresh couple, but the background mystery of the town’s secrets ties the series together, making reading in order more fun!
REVIEW:
I love when I get to visit back home and Annabeth Albert always takes me on that journey so easily.
Professor Holden Justice is doing just fine with teaching at the local college, doing his podcast and hanging with his friends at trivia night and drinking questionable coffee concoctions at his friend Sam’s coffee house, the Blessed Bean. Their cockamamie idea that he needs a roommate, after Monroe and Knox’s roommate situation became a couple, was crazy. He might be an extrovert but he liked being able to leave his piles of homework to grade on his dining room table. And sure, cooking for more than one is always much more pleasurable. And Tyler is soon to graduate and isn’t as reliable to help as he used to be. So when the prickly diver gets hurt and then his old RV finally breaks down permanently Holden decides he does need a roommate after all and the sexy diver is the one he wants sharing his home. When Holden comes home unexpectedly at lunch and discovers Cal’s favorite distraction technique to help him relax and rest when his PTSD is overwhelming he is surprised but intrigued. Cal’s obsession with doing all things solo is very questionable. Holden gets that the kink is a release for him and being alone, having major trust issues and being demisexual complicates that. But he’s going to break that hard shell and show Cal that he can be trusted.
I had wondered about the jokester friend Holden and why he was stuck in a wheelchair in the first book. Not a new story for sure. People, especially when they are young, think they are invincible. Then that one unwise choice changes their lives forever. And chronic pain from such an injury is not always understood by people who have never been through an event like what happened to Holden. Doctors put you together but there is almost always residual, everlasting pain. I loved that both Cal and Holden picked up on cues of the others discomfort pretty quickly. Both men have suffered so much trauma in their lives. Both physical and mental. Holden dealt with it through humor as an avoidance while Cal developed prickly thorns to keep others away. But Cal saw through Holden’s comic side and Holden broke through Cal’s armor. Both men showed that trust had to develop and then they could try.
I love this series. Not only because it’s based in my very dear-to-my-heart small town Oregon but because of this group of lifelong friends. They deeply care for each other and want the others to have everything they want and deserve. These are not fresh out of school boys but seasoned men (most in their early forties) that need love and trust in their lives. Not only was it great to see all the men from the first book but we saw that Monroe and Knox have settled nicely into their relationship and Knox is not only accepted but a comfortable part of their group. I am both eager and leery of this next book. Eager because we finally get Sam’s story and Worth’s finally coming home. But leery because this is the last book in this wonderful series and I don’t want to leave Safe Harbor.
RATING: 
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